


When the Flowers Bloom

by mp3



Category: Naruto
Genre: Implied/Referenced Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-28
Updated: 2016-06-28
Packaged: 2018-07-18 17:08:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7323658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mp3/pseuds/mp3
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When the flowers bloom, all is well. There is beauty, color, and a certain warmth that blankets the vicinity. You should never take it for granted, for you never know when someone will go and pour salt on the ground. (Sakura-centric)</p>
            </blockquote>





	When the Flowers Bloom

**Author's Note:**

> So i posted this on my ffnet account back in 2013, and came across it again recently while looking for some sasusaku fics. While this isn't really sasusaku, I am currently writing a sasusaku fic to post here soon! :^) enjoy!!

"Sasuke." The name feels foreign on her tongue. Her muscles feel as though they are being pricked with needles, while her heart feels like it's being ripped apart by the man himself. She refused to let it show, especially with him standing less than three feet away, watching. "Welcome back."

"Hn."

It is their first meeting after the war, and she watches as he is surrounded as if he were some sort of  _hero_ (which yes, he was).

They treat him like the prodigal son her could have been, but does not deserve to be.

Sakura does not understand it, but then again, when Sasuke is involved she has a tendency to not understand anything.

* * *

 

After a month or so, everything goes back to normal. 

The talk passes, and the whispers and glances as they all walk down the street together begin to lessen.

Sakura is split between gratitude and envy that these whispers do not include her name. 

It is--was _always_ \--only Naruto and Sasuke did this, Naruto and Sasuke did that.

Yes, they were the heroes of this tale, she knew.

But where would they be without the help of everyone else?

* * *

 

Training is boring and just as it used to be, but there are no real fights or blood or scars, so everything is okay in Sakura's eyes. She has pushed all of the resentment and hatred and disgust to the back of her mind. She is better. She has learned.

No one acknowledges that she is the highest ranking ninja out of she, Naruto, and Sasuke. No one acknowledges how poorly she must feel when put next to them, the Uchiha and the Jinchuuriki, how awfully  _normal_ she must feel.

 

* * *

Team 7 goes on their first mission two weeks later. 

Not once does Sakura hear anyone thank her for healing their wounds, no matter how life-threatening. 

Not once is she not told to guard the client during a battle.

Sakura is scared that if she goes on like she is twelve, like she hasn't chaged, she will surely snap.

She does not want to let her walls fall down. She does not want her own team that she is so weak that she is incapable of even containing her own emotions--what kind of shinobi would that make her?

* * *

 

Sakura hit the ground with a thud, her body going limp.

Distantly, she could hear Naruto and Sasuke's yelling. She would not let herself cry for them. Not again. Not this final time.

After all, it was probably just the poison making her delirious.

Even as she watched the two boys run towards her numb body through blurred vision, she did not allow herself to become the tragic sacrifice. No, she would not let herself believe that after everything, they cared for her.

It was best not to hope.


End file.
